Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 April 1942 — Page 12

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The Indianapolis Times

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE | President Editor Rusiness Manager | (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) |

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1942

INDIA MUST FIGHT FAST

IRST reactions in India to the British compromise plan for post-war dominion status are hostile. But only our unthinkable stupidity can prevent further negotiations. Sir Stafford Cripps and Gandhi agree, for publication, that this is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. That can be taken with a grain of the salt for which the mahatma and so many of his independence disciples once went to jail. The fact is that Britain and India must “hang together, or hang separately” at the hands of axis invaders. And, with the Japs already breathing on their necks, they are not going to have any chance to forget it. If this unity formula fails, another will have to be worked out—whether the extremists, London tories or Indian obstructionists, like it or not.

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

TUCSON, Ariz, Aprii 1-I have just received the published version of Harold Ickes’ letter to the publisher of a paper, not a daily, in Bridgeport, Conn, in reply to an editorial printed last July. Six months passed before Ickes saw the editorial and, when he did, he promptly wrote a letter so dirty as to bear comparison with Fiorello La Guardia's premeditated and twice reiterated remarks about a reputable New York citizen last fall, which might have cost La Guardia the election had they not been too filthy for cemmunication to the voters. Jim Farley tried to put the gist and odor of that vile statement across to the people but it was just unprintable and, of course, couldn't be used against La Guardia on the air. I don't blame Ickes for resenting the editorial but I do insist that he should have gone right up to Bridgeport, scught out the editor and shot him dead. Or he might have knocked his head off with a ballbat, I say this seriously for this editorial, among other loathsomeness, reflected upon Ickes’ immediate family. Had Ickes killed the editor he would have performed a valuable service for the community in general and for the press in particular which, in the last few years, has suffered from a vicious growth of this sort of thing.

It Started on Broadway!

THE INFECTION set in in the Broadway or underworld gossip in New York and has now spread to many papers which are otherwise reputable if careless

Thus the probability is not that talk will stop. Rather, the danger is that the talk will go on and on until the Japs | arrive—when tongues will be hanging out in a different way. Any agreement now, whether on the British formula or some quick Indian modification of it, must be based on mutual recognition that it is impossible to dot all the I's and cross all the T's of India’s future free government in the desperately brief time before Japanese attack. This is India’s first real chance to fight for freedom. It may be her last, unless she starts fighting fast.

HOW DO YOU DENT BRASS HATS?

HE American inventor of the submarine, Simon Lake, got the door slammed in his face when he offered his sea scourge to the navy department in 1901. Later he was told by the same group, “Don’t be silly,” when he designed a two-man submarine. The Japs used | them effectively at Pearl Harbor. Now the same Mr. Lake gets the same brush-off from the navy, the maritime commission and Washington dignitaries in general with his plans for a big cargo-carrying submarine. Designed as the answer to axis sinkings of allied shipping, the cargo submarine reportedly is used by Germany,

ITHIN a few days congress will complete action on the

AND THE DEFICIT GROWS WwW latest £1R8000,000,000 army supply bill—bringing the ! total of appropriations for war purposes to $160,000,000,000. | Meanwhile, there is little progress to report on the war | revenue bill under which we are supposed to start paying a larger share of the tremendous costs of this conflict. Right after Pearl Harbor, Treasury Secretary Mor- | genthau told the American people to get ready for much | stiffer taxation. The people then were all ready. But weeks dragged by while the treasury’'s experts labored over | the new program. When the program was finally revealed, the reason for the delay was obvious. The experts had not designed a tax measure alone for the primary objective of immediately raising urgently needed new revenue. Rather, they had undertaken a large-scale revision of | the revenue statutes, bringing again to the front many old | and stoutly disputed controversies. There is, for instance, the provision to require hus- | bands and wives to file joint returns on income taxes—a | proposal long and bitterly contested last year and finally | voted down. Now we are heading into another extended debate on the same issue. and doubtless it again will be defeated. The net result will be precious time wasted. While time-consuming disputes are being debated, the | new revenue-raising measure is being delaved—and the | deficit grows larger.

WHY, MR. DIES?

JONGRESSMAN DIES is outraged because a man who | once wrote a book about nudism is employed by Vice | President Wallace's agency which is doing post-war plan- | ning. We can’t understand why. The way shortages are | developing, the way prices are going up, the way taxes will have to rise, maybe advice from an authority on nudism | is just what a lot of us are going to need. And maybe we'll need it even before the post-war | period arrives.

A SERVICE TO LABOR

HE United States supreme court did organized labor a service by holding that the states may prohibit

picketing — even peaceful picketing — not confined directly to the labor dispute from which it grew. The case had come up from Houston, Tex. Two A. F.

of L. unions, of painters and carpenters, had picketed a cafe whose owner had engaged a non-union contractor to erect a building for him. The cafe, itself, employs union members. A state court granted an injunction against the unions, forbidding the picketing. The supreme court, by a 5 to 4 decision, upheld the injunction. As Justice Frankfurter said, peaceful picketing may be a phase of the constitutional right of free utterance. But the states have power to confine the picketing “to the area of the industry within which a labor dispute arises,” and that does not deprive the unions of “other traditional modes of communicaticn.” Abuse of the right to picket has done labor's cause untold harm. “Secondary picketing” —the attempt by unions to hurt the business of persons only innocently and indirectly involved in their controversies with emplovers—outrages the public's sense of justice. Labor will gain if all states, now that the supreme court has cleared the way, will put a stop to this and similar abuses.

| sons in the news.

| have the presumption to run for office.

and, in this respect, often flagrantly indecent. It is my belief that no jury in any city in the United States would have left the box to acquit Ickes if he had personally and promptly exterminated the beast who slandered his wife, and there are many communities in which the citizens, in such circumstances, would have given him a medal instead for ridding the neighborhood of an uncommonly nasty specimen of vermin. Such action would have revived an old and honorable American regard for the good name of decent women and would have put on notice many editors across the land who seem to think that because they buy filth by the yard from a New York syndicate, and because the dirty copy deals with unseen individuals a long way off, they themselves have no responsibility in printing the same.

Ickes Should Have Killed Him!

I HAVE DISCUSSED this problem with editors who have confessed that they well know the most notorious of the gutter-snipe columnists to be a malicious liar, a faker and a rumorist but, somehow, seein to believe that the responsibility is not theirs. The libel suit is no adequate remedy in such slanders as that against Mrs. Ickes. Direct action is the only way. I go back as far as 1910 in the newspaper business, a time when we were often careless of our facts and not too sensitive of the rights and feelings of perBut while, in the matter of reporting we were pretty awful, we had nothing comparable to the black-mailing and black-guardism that have become an element of our journalism as the reportorial standards steadily improved. And now, with war going on and with a congressional and senatorial campaign warming up, editors who regularly use such low merchandise as authentic copy will find various candidates smeared and vilified as traitors and enemy agents merely because they Even in politics a man should not have to stand for that. Most citizens who lead a normal life shrink from killing but there are circumstances in which a man’s duty demands. I submit that Ickes would have been correct in killing a man who wrote as he did about his wife.

Our Generals By Gen. Hugh S. Johnson

—

WASHINGTON, April 1. When, almost cheek by jowl, in the the “old army” you have been brought up or served with men who are now three-star or even four-star generals; it is very hard to regard them with the awe with which the world regards them. Most of the great flying fields have been named for my buddies —which means that they their lives in pioneering days of The first man ever killed in any airplane

flying. accident——or even hurt, was a classmate of mine, Tom Selfridge. A handful of junior lieutenants attended the first

American airplane meet at Tanforan, Cal. The pioneer fliers of the world were nearly all there. Most of the bunch who “went up” that day, (except myself) joined the air department of the signal corps and because they gave their lives, have air-fields named for them today—Love, Kelley, Crissy, McCord, etc. Men like Lieut. Gen. Delos Emmons were comrades of a slightly later crop. Active generals like MacArthur (who was a classmate of mine) or like McNair, Wainwright and Svilwell (who wert contemporary schoolmates at West Point) were comrades in the army afterward. Recalling them fondly to memory as awkward, gangling kids. frequently under the terrible embarrassment of the old West Point hazing system, it is difficult to realize that they have developed into great world-figures with terrific responsibilities for the fate and future of the nation in their hands.

. Every One a National Asset

THERE WAS LITTLE enough on which to forecast such a career then. And yet. I can remember quite clearly that there were two things which, without a single exception, they had in common—rather rare things. For want of better words let's call them extreme

simplicity and sympathy for the other fellow’s posi- |

tion and point of view-—especially if the “other fellow” was of lower rank as an officer or was an enlisted man.

This outstanding quality plus the fact that they

were happy to be soldiers and had faith that hard work and effort with every job weli done would some

day win recognition, even if that day were as distant"

as doom, are the distinguishing marks of every single one of these men. Not one, except MacArthur, had any boyhood advantage of wealth or distinction. With no exceptions, soldiers love them.

With the exception of MacArthur, none of these |

men is the flaming type of natural genius. Every last one of them, however, is a simple man's heman who knows and loves his profession, and if real genius is “an infinite capacity for taking pains” they all qualify in that category. Every one is a national asset.

So They Say—

The United States has never admitted dependency as a reason for not having enough men in the armed forces.—Brig.-Gen, Lewis B. Hershey, selective service. * Beware of the man who instills doubt in your mind. He may not be Hitler's agent, but he is

doing the t's 'work—Chief Donald M. Nelson.

* »

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lost .

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

‘We Aryan Moslems Have to Stick Together!’

1 wholly disagree with what you say,

The Hoosier Forum

defend to the death your right to say it.—

but will Voltaire.

DAVID F. SMITH AND THE HOUSING ISSUE

(Times readers are invited

to express their views in By David F, Smith, 114 N. Delaware st. Es This letter is sent you to comply these columns, religious conwith Section 147 of Baldwin's In-| 4. arsies excluded. Make

diana Revised Statutes governing Libel, Retraction and Notice. On Sept. 30, 1941, you published on Page 12 of The Indianapolis Times under the heading ‘Deputy Treasurer Takes Up Housing Issue,” the following false and defamatory matter concerning the undersigned. | the law and accepted the nominal 1. “The County Real Estate Com- | hid plus two years delinquent taxes pany owned by the Smith Brothers | gs did other County Treasurers have collected rents (from South|throughout the state, there would New Jersey and Merrill Streets) | not now be $2,220,600 delinquent over a period of years.” |taxes upon the Marion County tax This company is not owned by duplicate, and a large portion of the the Smith Brothers and neither they | delinquent properties would have or the company have ever collected | been restored to the active list on a dollar's rent from this property.|the tax duplicate. 2. "There was an attempted pro-| As stated above none of the percedure by David F. Smith to take|sons named in your libelous article advantage of an antiquated law in|have ever received a cent from any buying this property for delinquent | rents or income on this property. taxes for one dollar.” 5 #8 David F. Smith acting as attor-|,, REA ney for a number of persons, under | SEL F<STYLED SHURINICE a tax law recognized by the State | I§ NO SACRIFICE” Board of Tax Commissioners and|By James R. Meitaler, Attica yen by Sounty Treasurers| The ©. I. O. challenge to indusgn a a rpoere] ie ty. “The war effort Faguires that Marion County a number of prop-| every American factory which can erties including those above men- contribute to that effort work 24 tioned. The consideration named | hours a day, seven days a week,” is in this offer was a nominal sum|all to the good. Their self-styled (not one dollar) plus the assump- sacrifice of double pay for Sundays tion of 2 years of back taxes all as|is no sacrifice. The statement that provided by law. In other words/the attack on the 40-hour week instead of a dollar bid as you have|and closed shop is by a misinformed repeatedly asserted the actual bid public who believes 40 hours per was a sum equal to 6% of the as- week is all a man is allowed to sessed value of vacant property. and | work, is bunk. a sum equal to from 6 to 40° of Pay and one-half for time above the market value of improved prop- 40 hours was designed to fatten the erty. | wage envelope and penalize the emHad the County Treasurer ac-|ployer. As an example: A $1 an cepted this offer the bidder te pro- hour man produced each hour an| tect his bid would have been com- | object which the employer's profit] pelled by law to pay to the County|was $1. If he worked an hour over-| Treasurer on the New Jersey and|time his wage was $1.50, the emMerrill property more than $1000|ployer’s profit 50 cents. in delinquent taxes in addition to der workmen like overtime work} his bid and the further sum of|and the employer avoids it. . . . $1500 more up to the present date. | 3. “In other words they have bled | cessive profits. the property and the tenants and cessive wages, sheuld take care o attempted to bleed the legitimate|that. tax payers of Marion County to the nor abuse by the president or union| tune of $10,000 for one dollar.” |officials can conceal the damning

your letters short, so all can have a chance. Letters must

be signed.)

f But neitker business profits]

Side Glances=By Galbraith

director of |

Some business may be making ex- | Taxation, not ex-|

lof

Had our County Treasurer obeyed | fact that here in free America a|2nd publications : | Scientific and technical and busi-

man who supports himself end his family, by the sweat of his brow, must buy the right to work of a labor dictator. Nor the: doubly damning reality that before he can labor on a government job in defense of his country he must first pay tribute to a labor racketeer, 2 2 n

WHAT INDIANA'S LIBRARIES ARE DOING IN THE WAR

By Harold Sander, publicity chairman, Indiana Library association With the nation’s resources and manpower being thrown into high gear to aid the nation's war effort, libraries of Indiana are evaluating | their functions in terms of the, {present war economy and are doing | everything to give the public the |best service, Libraries in Indiana lare creating their own priorities [scale in line with the library policy | formulated by the American library \association and the Indiana library jassaeiaiion, Services which will [contribute to the winning of the ia and provide a background for la lasting peace are given a preferential rating. | Service, information and facts,| these are the key words of the pres-| ‘ent functions of libraries. Foliowing the general demand and acting as a cog in this war machine, li|braries are buying more technical and scientific books to help win the battle of production. Wars are won partly on the battlefield, partly in the production line, and partly on the home front. The fight will not entirely be with weapons; cold hard facts, knowledge, research, ex|perience, and a morale capable of] giving us the competence to meet; the problems of our times, these] factors will be vital to gain success | and victory. To assist in the promotion of these factors is the aim {of libraries. Four district phases of rendered at this time by libraries and librarians are significant. Of

pri ? | i § ne- | No won- | Primers importance is their fu

land production activities.

[through books, magazines and state {and national government documents

ness books and periodicals assist war production and research. The demand for this type of information|

{has increased greatly in the past year, statistics of the American li-| I association show.

Next in importance is the library's

(duty to supply civilians with a clear | pictufe

of America’s war aims) ‘through books, magazines and other ‘methods. Indiana's libraries are providing books which promote understanding of what the country is! fighting for. Recognizing that high | civilian morale depends on a knowledge of why totalitarianism must be | defeated and democracy must be] preserved, librarians are stressing | this phase in fulfillment of their part in the “Arsenal of Democracy.” | Reading has proved its value as a| bolster to national morale in war-| time England. Recreational reading has been of such importance in keeping up the spirits of the English people during blackouts that library stations are maintained in underground shelters. To fulfill their obligation to sustain public morale, Indiana libraries are endeavoring to maintain their place as a source of recreational reading for both children and adults. It is probable that the latest love stories, western stories, and mystery thrillers may be fewer, but they will still’ be available.

DAILY THOUGHT

In famine he shall redeem thee from death: 4nd in war from the power of the sword.—Job 5:20. . pin

"There must be something going on in the we

rid that we don't know

about, Mon, that's keeping

service | g

, usual pictures one sees of Honest Abe.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1942

Thurman Arnold

By Thomas L. Stokes

WASHINGTON, April 1 Thurman Arnold, being no ree specter of persons or of fixed ideas, probably has gathered about hime self more enemies than anybody else who sits in high places in Washington — and high « placed enemies they are, too. If he were not the kind of a fellow he is, he'd probably wake up nights and see a procession of screeching ghouls that would drive an average man out of St. Elizabeth's on the hill, that being Washington's insane asylum. But he doesn't frighten easily. There are big business men who sit about at directors’ meetings, playing with an idea for doing business that isn't quite on the up and up, and have the wits scared out of them by someone mentioning the name of Thurman Arnold. Chieftains of organized labor began to demand his head a long time ago, and are still at it, because of his idea that racketeers in labor ranks who fatten off the fees of workers and prey on business, and consumers and farmers are just as bad as racketeers in business. He plays no favorites.

Thurman Arnold

He Sparkles and Stimulates

HIS WHOLE IDEA of his job is to break up come binations and agreements, whether by business or labor or by business and labor, that keep up the prices of the necessities of living—food, clothing, housing, medicine. : He's won a lot of battles and lost a lot. The supreme court could not see eye to eye with him on using the anti-trust laws against restrictive labor

practices, though he did not seek their application to wages, hours and working conditions, only to collusive agreements, jurisdictional disputes and other restraints which he contends have nothing to do with the legitimate objects of unionism, And, saucy fellow that he is, he speaks very plainly his disagreement with the court on this issue. He speaks frankly, also, to business leaders about practices contrary to the anti-trust laws. But no= body yet has been able to muffle Mr. Arnold's tongue. He thrives on controversy. Mr, Arnold talks with the least provocation, and always brilliantly. That's why he's a favorite at Washington dinner parties. He sparkles and stimulates. And coming from the west—he was born in Laramie, Wyo.—he has a saltiness lacking in so many of the New Dealers who can't theorize without getting dull. He's never dull.

'He's Been Talking Ever Since’

THIS WESTERN frankness and breeziness, along with his refusal to quail before anybody, has won him the complete devotion of the younger lawyers and experts on his staff. They swear by him. There is an esprit de corps in the anti-trust division found in few other government agencies. He's done a little of everything. He served for a term in the Wyoming state senate, a lone Democrat among 36 Republicans; was mayor of Laramie; taught law; did odd legal jobs for the government from time to time, before becoming attached regularly to the justice department, and has written a number of hooks, best known being “The Folklore of Capitalism” and “Bottlenecks of Business,” as well as magazine articles about “Labor’s Hidden Holdup Men.” When he was in the Wyoming senate, he nomie nated himself for president of that body, claiming that his party should have a candidate. He then spoke for 45 minutes about Thurman Arnold. Then he retired to his seat and applauded himself, rising immediately to second his own nomination in another 45-minute oration. In turn, he nominated himself for every office in that body, and the Republicans knew they had been through something. He's been talking ever since—with considerably more effect.

A Woman's Viewpoint . By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

A WHITE HOUSE visitor these days is stopped at the entrance to the grounds by two handsome uniformed guards. Telephone establishes identity, and after the walk to the front door a mild= looking major domo ushers you into a room where several other persons sit waiting, Introductions are made all around. Presently he announces the First Lady, and after greete ings the group moves into the big panneled dining room. There, on most .days, some larger group will ale ready be taking tea. It usually is composed of a special commission or a student body. The tea is ood. A large bowl of red roses is the only gay note Contraint is so thick you could

in the vast room. cut it with a knife. It’s funny how shy human beings are of one another in strange surroundings They move awke wardly, wearing painted smiles, like poor fish out of water,

She Can Still Take It

OVER THE MANTEL hangs a new portrait of Abraham Lincoin. Of course it isn't really new, bu only newly exhibited. It is startlingly unlike the For a wonder and a relief, the face is lighted with a smile; the pose is careless instead of dignified. v It's the man Lincoln, rather than the Savior of the Union, who looks at you. Howdy, Abe! What a comfortable, friendly sort of person you must have been. And probably beset by just such flocks of gawking visitors in your time. Which brings your mind hurrying back to your hostess. She is still valiantly at work, creating ease, After tea your group drifts into the Red Room with Mrs. Rooosevelt, who departs only long enough to have her picture taken with another bunch of admirers. Constraint stalks you there. The atmosphere is heavy with the embarrassment of women who are bursting to talk yet afraid of the sound of their own voices in such an awesome place, After nine years the First Lady can still take it the adulation and the ‘“yessing,” day in and day out, must be a fearful ordeal. Yet she remains serene. You wonder how when you remember that, while this may be a red-letter day for you, it's just routine stuff for Mrs. Rooosevelt,

Fhe views expressed by columnists in this They are not necessarily those

Editor's Note: newspaper are their own. of The Indianapolis Times.

Questions and Answers

(The indianapolis Limes Service Bureau will answer any question of fact or information, not involving extensive res search. Write vour question clearly, sign name and address, inclose a three-cent postage stamp, Medical or legal advices cannot be given, Address The Limes Washington Service Bureau. 1013 Thirteenth St, Washington D. C.)

@—How are the different types of tanks used?

A—Very heavy tanks are used by advance troops; medium tanks clean up antitank guns and sometimes

large guns; and light tanks follow through with the

attack. Q—1Is any anthracite mined in Alaska?

A—The coal deposits of Alaska include a fairly good anthracite and a small amount of coal approache ing anthracite is mined in Bow Pass, near Banff, Al-